The invention relates to a camera suitable for recording television, cinematographic and possibly photographic images, which camera includes a solid-state sensor of the charge transfer type, said sensor comprising a picture pick-up member for converting in its pick-up elements radiation incident via a radiation path into local charge packets as picture information, a storage member comprising storage elements for storing the picture information, the pick-up and storage elements being present in rows and columns and the number of rows of storage elements being smaller than the number of rows of pick-up elements, and a parallel-in, series-out shift register member which is coupled to a sensor signal output for the supply of a picture signal as picture information generated in line and field periods with line and field scanning periods and line and field blanking periods, said camera also including a shutter device arranged in the radiation path towards the picture pick-up member of the sensor and a control signal generator for controlling the picture information transfer in the sensor and for controlling the shutter device for passing or not passing radiation.
Such a camera for recording television, cinematographic and photographic images is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,496. In this camera the number of rows of pick-up elements is twice as large as the number of rows of storage elements. The Patent states that the number of rows of storage elements is equal to the number of television picture display lines laid down in one of the television broadcasting standards. In the known camera an advantage is obtained in both photographic recording and television recording and comparable cinematographic recording by the choice of the different numbers of rows.
When recording a photographic image, the shutter device shuts off the radiation path towards the picture pickup member of the sensor after a given exposure time. Subsequently a parallel information shift is effected periodically per line period from the rows of pick-up elements via the rows of storage elements to the parallel-in, series-out shift register member of the sensor. After each parallel shift during the line blanking period into the shift register member a serial information shift to the sensor signal output is effected in this member during the line scanning period. The result is that a picture signal for displaying a photographic image having a number of photographic picture lines which is equal to the number of rows of pick-up elements of the sensor is generated in a field period.
When recording television or comparable cinematographic images, the picture information is parallel shifted from the rows of pick-up elements from the pick-up member to the storage member after each picture recording during a field blanking period and with the shutter device being shut. During this shift a parallel addition of picture information in the first row of storage elements is effected in the storage member, which addition is different for first and second field periods, namely an addition for a given row of pick-up elements with the superjacent row in the one field period and with the subjacent row in the other field period. The shift frequency at the storage member is then half that at the pick-up member. Due to the different additions the sensor signal output supplies an interlaced picture signal in a frame period equal to two field periods. The sensor operates in the manner described as a so-called frame transfer sensor. The result is that an interlaced picture signal is generated for displaying television or cinematographic images with a number of picture lines which is equal to the number of rows of storage elements of the sensor.
The camera described appears to be suitable both for generating interlaced picture signals in a simple manner for displaying television or cinematographic images and for generating a picture signal for displaying photographic images with a picture definition in the field scanning direction which is then twice as high.